Roanoke of Roanoke Hall: A Romance — page 130: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

124 Roanoke of Roanoke Hall, and brought it to the floor with a resounding crash, drawing two or three others rattling down in its wake. All subterfuge was now at an end, and I fleeted along the passage like the shadow of a swallow on water. Soon I heard John o’ Compton’s hasty feet thundering after me. This was so far an ad- vantage that the noise he made drowned my lighter footfalls, but as I reached the end of the corridor he stopped suddenly, and the pat of my tip-toed steps echoed along the vaulted roof. “‘ Who is that ?” he bellowed. ‘Stop and reveal thyself, or I fire.” I entered the first turn of the winding stairway as he spoke, and at the same moment a vivid flash broke from the darkness behind me. The sharp rattle of the slugs against the wall above was instantly followed by the rolling crash of the explosion, and then I heard him start to running once more. I was at the door by that time, but so dis- ordered by my speed and terror that I coulda not find the spring. Mad with fear, I hunted and fumbled while he drew instantly nearer. With the desperation of a rabbit pursued by comichbooks.com